Rafik Hariri trial: verdict on four Hezbollah members due this week

A massive bomb tore through the former prime minister of Lebanon's armoured convoy as he drove home for lunch on Valentine's Day 2005

Rafik Hariri, left, and his bodyguard Yahya Arab, leave the Parliament in Beirut, Lebanon in 2005. Minutes later, Hariri and several of his bodyguards were killed in a massive bomb explosion. AP

The site of devastation where former Lebanon prime minister Hariri was assassinated in the blast in Beirut on February 14, 2005. AFP

Supporters of former Lebanese prime minister Hariri after Hariri's death outside his house in Beirut. AFP

The national flag-draped coffin of Hariri is carried to his final resting place in central Beirut two days after the killing. AFP

Saad Hariri and other family members leave their family home to join the funeral procession. AFP

A combination of handout pictures obtained on July 29, 2011 from the website of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon shows four Hezbollah suspects indicted in the assassination case of Hariri, (from top left to right) Mustafa Amine Badreddine, Assad Hassan Sabra, Hussein Hassan Oneissi and Salim Jamil Ayyash. AFP

An avenue in central Beirut destroyed by 18 months of civil war is pictured, November 15, 1976. AFP

Hariri on October 22, 1992 in Beirut, after being nominated as prime minister by then president Elias Hrawi. AFP

Hariri and his wife Nazic on September 1, 1996 in their villa in Beirut. AFP

Then French president Jacques Chirac greets Hariri at the Elysee Palace in Paris, September 28, 1996. AFP

Sheikh Zayed, the Founding Father, meets Hariri in Dubai on March 17, 1999. Hariri was in Dubai for a three-day official visit. AFP

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashed, then Crown Prince of Dubai, drives Hariri in Dubai on March 6, 2000. AFP

Hariri meets Syrian President Bashar al Assad on the sidelines of the Arab summit in Beirut, March 27, 2002. AFP

Lebanese policemen gather at the site where outgoing economy and trade minister Marwan Hamadeh's car was targeted by a bomb in Beirut on October 1, 2004. AFP

The Hariri monument in Beirut. Reuters

A UN-backed court is to deliver its judgment on Friday on four suspected Hezbollah members tried in absentia for former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri's murder in a 2005 Beirut car bombing.

The Lebanese Shiite movement does not recognise the Netherlands-based Special Tribunal for Lebanon, denies all the accusations and has refused to hand over the accused.

A massive bomb tore through Hariri's armoured convoy as he drove home for lunch on Valentine's Day 2005, killing him and 21 other people including seven of his bodyguards, as well as wounding 226 others.

Here are those indicted:

The mastermind

The alleged mastermind, Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine is believed to have died in Syria in May 2016 while providing military support to the Damascus regime.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) in July that year overturned its decision to try him in absentia, finding sufficient evidence to establish his death.

Badreddine joined the Hezbollah movement newly created by Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards after Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982.

He was jailed in Kuwait for attacks on the French and US embassies in 1983.

His release was among the demands of Shiite militants who hijacked two airliners, before he was freed in the chaos caused by Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

Team leader 

Salim Ayyash, 56, has been accused of leading the team that carried out the bombing.

His whereabouts, like the three others awaiting the verdict, remain unknown.

Charges against Mr Ayyash include "committing a terrorist act", "intentional homicide" of Hariri, "intentional homicide of 21 other people", and attempting to kill 226 more, according to the STL website.

In a separate case, the tribunal in 2019 also charged him with terrorism and murder over three other deadly attacks on Lebanese politicians in 2004 and 2005.

The muscle and the misdirection 

Hussein Oneissi, 46, and Assad Sabra, 43, allegedly sent a fake video to the Al Jazeera news channel claiming responsibility on behalf of a non-existent group.

Mr Oneissi and Mr Sabra are accused of "being an accomplice to the felony of committing a terrorist act", as well as accomplices in the "intentional homicide" of Hariri, in the "intentional homicide of 21 other people", and in attempting to kill 226 more.

The court in 2018 threw out a bid to acquit Mr Oneissi, saying that while much of the evidence was circumstantial, it was still in theory sufficient to produce a conviction.

Much of the prosecution case has relied on mobile phone records that allegedly show the suspects conducting surveillance of Hariri until minutes before the explosion.

The defence has argued the evidence was "theoretical" and that the defendants had "no motive" to carry out the crime.

Hassan Merhi, 54, is accused of general involvement in the plot.

He is charged with the same crimes as Mr Oneissi and Mr Sabra.